Archive for July 6th, 2011|Daily archive page

A fundamental, and beautiful, aspect of representative democracy is that citizens can participate in the governmental process. Citizens elect representatives at all levels of government … local, county, state and federal … to enact the laws that protect them and provide other government services for them. Citizens have the right to petition the representatives and to attend the government hearings and meetings to engage in meaningful discourse about possible legislation.

It is a fundamental right and responsibility. Citizens must participate in the process; if they do not receive input from the people they represent, elected “public servants” will make decisions predicated on their personal, informed ideas about the legislation they are considering. Hopefully, their decisions will be directed by a higher sense of benefitting the majority of the citizens they represent.

However there are cases in which the elected “public servants” cast their votes for purposes other than the public good, either innocently or because there is benefit or gain. The point is: Citizens must become involved in the process!

Schools can still hike taxes for special-ed, pension costs – “I hope that legislators are using the exception-reporting data to formulate better ways of providing state funding to properly spread the costs rather than burden the local communities,” said Laura Cowburn, Columbia School District‘s assistant to the superintendent for business. “Until there is a stabilization of the way funds flow from the state to the local school district, effective change to improve education will be a challenge.” (Lancaster Intelligencer Journal/New Era)

Cobra in waiting … CCFD Carnival starts tonight! :

“The secrecy urge: A House bill is an affront to our right to know. Time and again, the first tendency of public officials is to keep public information secret. Any excuse will do. Before they went on their summer break, Pennsylvania lawmakers Read the rest of this entry »

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

This is a continuation of a series of posts devoted to exploring the enduring foundation of our nation. Click on the document below to go to a comprehensive Website to read the entire Constitution. Each day, we will post the successive Amendments to The Constitution, one each day.